News digest from Monoup: main news of fintech and iGaming
We're wrapping up the week with digest of the most important news, curated by Monoup experts. And it turned out to be a very active one. In the US, a high-profile court case: payment system with Russian roots, Evita Pay, turned out to be a front, engaged in money laundering for unreliable clients from abroad. What happened and what has been discovered so far — know more below.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, a shift in power on the banking market is possible. A Chinese banking giant has expressed interest in acquiring the local Liberty Bank. What the owner of Liberty says about this and whether the deal will be completed — we'll tell you in the article.
We review what happened this week in fintech, banking, and iGaming that you definitely need to know.
Syria Connects to SWIFT
Let's start with the main news of the week — restoration of economic relations between Syria and the rest of the world. With the lifting of sanctions on the country, which had been restricted for 14 years, investors and Syrian authorities are looking forward to a bright future. As soon as the country connects to SWIFT network, it will again become a participant in international payments, able to earn from exports and import goods.
Although forecasts within the country are mostly positive, international investors are currently viewing the situation with caution. After so many years of isolation, not everyone believes that Syria will be able to quickly convince partners of its solvency. We also do not know how long the period without sanctions will last and if anything could provoke them again. Despite such a serious step towards international relations, Syria still remains a risky destination, and many prefer to observe for now and not rush into cooperation.
China Considers Buying Georgian Bank
A major player in the Chinese banking market is interested in acquiring Georgia's third-largest bank, Liberty. The owner of Liberty announced this news, adding that these negotiations have been ongoing for several years.
Analysts have calculated that, if the deal is successful, China's Basis Bank will become dominant in the Georgian market and change the long-established statistics where Bank of Georgia and TBC remained main banks in the country. Both banks, incidentally, are owned by Western investors, which also caused a certain resonance in media.
Although Georgia expresses a desire to move towards European integration, its international partnerships may indicate the opposite. In particular, the country is closely linked with China, developing friendly relations and tourism.
Owner of Evita Pay Payment System is Under Arrest
In the US, authorities exposed a money laundering scheme, aimed at helping scammers to circumvent sanctions under the guise of a promising cryptocurrency startup. The founder and owner of Evita Pay payment system and Evita Investments Inc. company, Yuri Gugnin, was taken into custody. The investigation believes that illegal transactions related to Russian Federation and China were carried out through the payment system and investment company as well. Although Evita Pay obtained a license, its activities turned out to be highly questionable, and the director, owner, and even AML officer in the company was one person, the same Yuri Gugnin.
Yuri Gugnin is a citizen of Russia but has been living in the United States since 2022. During this time, he managed to expand significantly and create an active business in payment industry. According to law enforcement agencies, payment organizations under Gugnin's leadership processed over 500 million dollars.
Both companies were used to help foreign clients who could not make payments to their counterparties due to previously imposed sanctions on Russian banks or for other reasons. Clients paid cryptocurrency, which Gugnin then processed through his own wallets and accounts. Ultimately, the funds were converted into US dollars or other fiat currencies to make payments on behalf of these clients. Thus, an intermediary organization operated, apparently for a fee, carried out illegal payments.
In addition to a solid set of charges, the case also highlighted that Yuri Gugnin constantly used Google search for the following queries:
- “how to find out if you are under investigation”
- “criminal record search Evita Investments Inc.”
- “Yuri Gugnin criminal records”
- “money laundering penalties in the USA”
- “penalties for violating EU sanctions on luxury goods.”
Based on this, it is assumed that he knew exactly that he was breaking the law and understood all the consequences of his actions. If convicted, Gugnin faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for each charge of bank fraud.
These are the news items for this week; fintech, as usual, keeps things sharp. That's why it's so easy to miss something here, and Monoup works to keep you informed. More news in our Telegram channel, and articles and longer research materials on MonoTalks page.
